Leg Post 24
In Leg Post 24 Sir Menw, the Enchanter Knight, visits the Aeon Central Librarium on Coruscant where he meets with Lord Jocasta. He is seeking information on Oberon and it was Oberon's wife that founded the librarium itself. Jocasta then tells Menw of the threat of the Infinite Celestium that Oberon had to face during his time. The Infinite Celestium has created a genetically altered slave race they named Aos Sí, which came to mean dark Æon Knight in the future. However the Aos Sí, led by Perfect Darkness, sided with Oberon against their masters. The Infinite Celestium was eventually brought down by a plague that affected only them. Jocasta then gives Menw the location of Oberon's Tomb. Meanwhile, in Albion, Vivane visits the King of Albion, Windos ap Nudd and his wife Creiddylad. Windos is irritated that Vivane one bore a child of Uther Pendragon, Morganna le Fay. Vivane inquires about Creiddylad's sister, Cordelia. Gwythyr had wanted Creiddylad as his wife while Cordelia wanted to be with Gwythyr. So Cordelia pretended to be Creiddylad and was married to Gwythyr, all the while Gwythyr believed he had married Creiddylad. The meeting is interrupted by a firey message from Menw that he had found Oberon's Tomb. Post SPACE CAMELOT: ANCIENT HISTORY Lord Jocasta: Welcome to the Aeon Central Librarium of Coruscant, I'm Lord Jocasta, can I help you? ''Sir Menw'', the Enchanter Knight, doesn't bat an eyelash at a woman using the title 'Lord', just as he hasn't batted an eyelash at any of the wild and outre sights he has seen ever since leaving Earth with King Arthur Pendragon's retinue. For starters, he is well acquainted with fellow knight Sir Caelia. But mostly, being a human raised among the faykind of Albion, one quickly gets used to wild and outre things, or one goes mad. Or both! Menw is fairly certain he isn't both, however. Fairly. Menw: I'm looking for records of Oberon. The alien woman raises her eyebrows. She wears a robe that is apparently traditional for the Aeon; although Menw has only seen a few Aeon in his travels with Arthur, there are several here on Terra Flux (also known as Coruscant), and they all seem to wear a similar robe. Lord Jocasta: Oberon... Oberon. Now that's a name I've not heard in a long time... a long time. Menw: You know the name then? Lord Jocasta: Of course! We Aeons have long memories. Our archives do, anyway. Longer than the rest of the Old Republic. Come. She turns on her heel and strides away. Menw quickly falls in step behind her as she leads him through several aisles of blinking lights - it's odd how this is a library, yet there are no bound tomes; he's not quite grasped the nature of 'data bytes' just yet, though he's aware of the concept - into progressively dimmer and dustier corridors. Lord Jocasta: This is the oldest part of the Librarium. Oberon's wife founded it, supposedly being a poet and bard herself, though that event was forgotten in the wake of the Old Republic's concurrent founding. Menw: Firsthand sources then. Lord Jocasta: Indeed. She seems mildly impressed that a backworlds savage knows anything about firsthand vs secondhand sources. She gestures to a switch on a shelf, and a flickering hologram of staticky blue lines appears. Lord Jocasta: Poor condition, I'm afraid. Not all of the Librarium's keepers in our ten-millennia history have been as conscientious as I. Menw: One hopes your successors are inspired by you, madam. Lord Jocasta: As I presume you already know, the fairy lord Oberon was responsible for the Old Republic's founding, though due to his age he never held any political authority in it before being laid to rest. Menw nods. As a fairy - more commonly referred to as pixie by mortals - Oberon's natural lifespan would have only been about a decade. Although he's reputed to be the most powerful faykind in history, immortality had probably been beyond his grasp, due to pixiekind's kismetic fragility; doubtlessly, he'd extended his lifespan to some degree, though by how much the Enchanter Knight hasn't a clue. Menw: So he was in fact responsible for the Old Republic then? Lord Jocasta: Correct. I'm surprised you were able to discover that; most in this day and age have forgotten him. Menw: I have some small skill at research. Lord Jocasta: Evidently. Menw: I confess knowing nothing else of his exploits beyond that, however. Lord Jocasta: Hence your visit to us. Well, I'm more than happy to share knowledge with the slayers of the Dread Masters! Would you believe it, Oberon's people faced a similar threat, although one far worse. Menw: Worse? Perhaps legend has inflated that opinion. Lord Jocasta: Perhaps, but we do have sufficient records to plausibly back up that opinion. The Infinite Celestium ruled the entire Perseus Arm back then-- Menw: As inconceivably large as that is, it doesn't seem 'infinite' to me. Lord Jocasta: Indeed not. The Celestials - their true name is lost to us - were a grandiloquent and egotistical species. They all possessed high spiritual potency, born with abilities similar to an Aeon's. And furthermore, they had developed technology that both used and amplified their soul energy. This soultech worked better with darker spiritual impulses however, and so the Celestials were more akin to Aos Si. Menw: I'm not familiar with these Aos Si. Lord Jocasta: Apologies. Aeon Knights of our order strive for balance. Some stray towards light or dark, however; those of the dark side are called Aos Si. Menw: How strange. Fay magic doesn't require striving for balance or anything else; it simply is. Lord Jocasta: I cannot claim to know the nature of Oberon's powers, as they are not well documented, but for Aeons, mastering the soul is a lifetime's work. At any rate, the Infinite Celestium's capital world was this one, Coruscant, or Terra Flux. Menw: Did they build this world-spanning city, then? Lord Jocasta: No, although some of the deepest layers are of Celestial construction. Menw: So how did Oberon and his people come into conflict with the Infinite Celestium? Lord Jocasta: We're unsure of the details; some accounts suggest that Oberon's heroic heart could not abide the cruel enslavement that their subject races languished under, but we have no actual facts to say one way or the other. I personally find it more likely that the Celestials saw a new populace to subjugate and attacked. Menw: I see. And...how did Oberon and his people fare? Clearly they had won, he knows. But despite the incredible utility and strength of the Atlantean magitech Oberon's expedition would have had at their disposal, said magitech relies a lot on the highly concentrated aether that existed only on Earth. Lord Jocasta: Records are spotty, but there seem to have been multiple battles that were ruinous for both sides. The turning point was when Oberon allied with one of the Celestials' enslaved species: the Aos Si. Menw: I beg pardon? I thought Aeon, dark or otherwise, were more than-- Lord Jocasta: The Aos Si were originally a species. Centuries ago, the dark Aeons adopted their name. Menw: Let me guess then: these Aos Si were just as as bad as the Celestials. Lord Jocasta: They had some nobility of purpose despite that, just as do the dark Aeons who still serve our order. Desperate times call for desperate measures, as they say. Menw: So this race of Aos Si all had soul powers too then? Lord Jocasta: A result of millennia of genetic experimentation on them by the Celestials, who apparently sought to create the perfect warrior-servants. It seems they succeeded, as the leader of the Aos Si who allied with Oberon was named Perfect Darkness, and was hailed as the perfect being by his people. Menw: I see. Lord Jocasta: Surprisingly, many more legends remain about Perfect Darkness than about Oberon or the Celestials. Possibly because of the Aos Si that exist today - the Knights of that name, not the original species. Menw: And what do these legends say about Perfect Darkness? Lord Jocasta: That he was monstrously powerful, both of body and soul, and was unthinkably charismatic and brilliant. Menw: So together he and Oberon defeated the Celestials. Lord Jocasta: We don't actually know. Menw: They must have, as the Old Republic is here today, rather than the Infinite Celestium. Lord Jocasta: Quite, but we're not entirely sure how. The Infinite Celestium had their soultech that Perfect Darkness and his Aos Si did not, and they had numbers and resources that Oberon lacked. Menw: Clever strategy or blind luck, perhaps. Or a missing historical link. Lord Jocasta: I can tell you what that link is. The great plague. Menw arches his eyebrow. Lord Jocasta: We're not certain if it existed before Oberon's arrival into the Perseus Arm, but even if it was, it only became a vast epidemic in the midst of that war. It affected only Celestials, and dulled their souls. Understanding dawns on Menw's face. Menw: That would have dampened not only their personal powers, but their ability to use their own soultech. Lord Jocasta: Exactly. Popular myths purport that Perfect Darkness engineered this plague, and it's technically possible that he or even Oberon might've had a hand in it. But we just don't know. Menw: I'm guessing this war, despite the eventual victory, had a...toll on Oberon's resources. The faykind of Albion, among whom the Enchanter Knight grew up, have tales of the phenomenal Atlantean magitech that Oberon's expedition took into space with him. Even though they would have been vastly reduced in effectiveness away from Earth, they are still highly valuable...especially if they were to be brought back to Earth, despite the planet's ultranexus having been destroyed along with ancient Atlantis. Lord Jocasta: That is correct. Although it is said that what treasures remained to him were laid to rest with him in his mausoleum. Menw: And do we perchance know where his mausoleum is? **** The magical land of Albion cannot truly be said to exist on Earth, being in a sideways pocket dimension. But this pocket dimension is only accessible from Earth - specifically, from Stonehenge - and so one might as well say it is on Earth, for all practical intents and purposes. Thus, in the faykind palace of Albion on Earth, Windos ap Nudd, current king of Albion, sets down his cornucopial drinking horn as Vivane floats in. He suppresses a scowl. Creiddylad: Vivane! Good of you to visit. Windos's wife rises from next to him and goes over to greet her friend enthusiastically, air-kissing her cheeks, and Vivane sits at the table with them. Vivane: I may be spending most of my time lately in the mortal realm, but it does not mean I have forgotten home. Windos ap Nudd: And yet, you bore a mortal's whelp. Creiddylad: Windos! Be nice. Windos ap Nudd: What? I state truth. Vivane: Yes, I bore Uther Pendragon's child Morganna le Fay. A mortal who bears the blood of Oberon himself. Creiddylad: I thought that didn't matter to you! Vivane: I am a sorceress. Fate matters to me, and thus bloodlines always matter to me as well. But no, Uther did not matter to me for his blood alone. It matters to your husband, however. Windos makes a noncommittal growl with no malice. This is an old argument. Vivane: And you know very well it's Uther's son Arthur to whom you swore our fealty. Windos: Arthur, yes. Despite his...quirks, he had gifts. But that boy Llacheu inherited nothing but his obsession for cheese farms. Creiddylad looks between them. She loves her husband, but wishes he'd get over his belief in faykind superiority. She changes the subject. Creiddylad: I got a new missive from my sister! Vivane: Cordelia? How is she? Windos ap Nudd: Married to an absolute boor. Creiddylad: Windos! She giggles a bit, however. Vivane smiles slightly. Vivane: Some would say the same of your wife, Windos. He snorts, as close to a guffaw as he'll allow himself, and the tension ebbs. Many years ago, one Gwythyr had set his sights on Creiddylad, though she and Windos were already betrothed. Gwythyr was a king over one of the four ancient northern cities of faykind, that had existed on Earth before the Rift ever gave Albion access to that world; while the other three cities have been long since been abandoned or assimilated into Albion's pocket plane, Gwythyr's city remains, a place as gloomy as its king, who makes Windos look like a ray of sunshine. Gwythyr had abducted Creiddylad, and Windos had rescued her. Gwythyr would not relinquish his desire, however, so Windos challenged him to a duel for Creiddylad's hand. They were evenly matched, however, and neither could overcome the other. So it was agreed that once every winter solstice, they would meet to duel for Creiddylad's hand, and she would marry neither until a duel was decided. Several years had passed, and just as many duels ended in draws, as Creiddylad wrung her hands and Albion's Pay-Per-View ratings had soared. Eventually, however, Creiddylad's identical twin sister Cordelia confessed of her love for Gwythyr to her sister, and so a plan was conceived. Cordelia, pretending to be Creiddylad, went to Gwythyr and said she chose him, and he spirited her away to his city in the dead of night. Ever since then, Gwythyr and Cordelia had lived happily (as had Windos and Creiddylad), despite Gwythyr still believing Cordelia to be her twin sister the whole while. Creiddylad: Oh, Vivane, you're incorrigible. Sometimes I think spending so much time in the mortal world has made you a little batty. Vivane: Only a little? Creiddylad's peal of laughter - and Windos's grunt - are interrupted by the ground heaving for a moment. King and queen stand to their feet abruptly, but Vivane is already gliding to the window, looking out in the distance across Albion to the Rift - the portal into their dimension from Stonehenge. Vivane: Well. It seems your man Menw has had some success. I admit, I didn't expect any communication spell he was capable of to reach all the way back to Earth from wherever they are now. Creiddylad's mouth is ajar with astonishment as she gazes to the horizon. Behind her, Windos's face is impassive as always. In great words of fire, hanging in the mouth of the Rift, are the following words. OBERON'S TOMB LOCATED Category:Post Category:Leg Post